


The Prison Experiment

by Solstice0612



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s01e06 The First Commandment, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:58:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8034067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solstice0612/pseuds/Solstice0612
Summary: Back from Avnil, Daniel and Sam consider what happened with Jonas Hanson and find a few troubling facts.





	The Prison Experiment

**Author's Note:**

> Many many thanks to DennyJ for her beta.

Knocking on the open door, a hungry Daniel entered Sam’s lab. By mid afternoon all the good food was gone from the mess hall but Sam always kept a stash of half-decent soup. She was herself often guilty of forgetting lunch when immersed in a project. Their late lunch breaks often turned into long conversations that weaved the personal and the philosophical as the two members of the recently formed SG-1 became good friends.

The lab was unusually quiet. Sam had set aside all tools and sat at her worktable holding a report in her hands. She did not look happy.

“Hi Sam, everything okay?”

“Sure.” She glanced at the clock, “Hungry?”

“Oh yeah. I was busy and well, you know.”

Sam opened a cabinet, took out two sealed bowls of noodle soup, and turned her electric kettle on. After getting two cups of coffee from a large thermos, Daniel sat at the workbench and glanced at the cover of folder labeled “Classified / USAF Incident Report: Captain Jonas Hanson.” Realizing how deeply disturbing this mission had been to Sam, Daniel remained quiet, waiting for her to take the lead. 

Sam drank from her warm cup. “General Hammond thought that we’d like to read the final report,” she eventually said. 

“Captain Hanson became totally unhinged,” said Daniel. “Unfortunately, to a population surviving under great stress, any alternatives would’ve seemed like a good idea.”

“He really thought he was a god and the power he held over those poor people only reinforced his delusion. How could I ever––”

“Sam,” Daniel interrupted before she could claim all the blame, “what does the report say, if you don’t mind my asking?”

She got up, poured hot water in the soup cups and brought them to the table. “The usual: highly decorated, distinguished service, and a year of black ops without raising any flags. He aggressively pursued duties that were beyond his rank, and every time he was authorized to perform them. They can hardly qualify his drive to rise to positions of power as not befitting the military mindset. Ironic isn't it?”

“It sounds like he was being groomed. As I mentioned before, the people who are entrusted with such extreme tasks tend to be all a little crazy. Jack seems to be the exception, if I’m to be honest. He has a history of black ops, but he also has this ability to put himself in the other person’s shoes.”

“Well, sympathy is not a trait the Air Force nurtures, as much as the ability to lead and follow orders.”

“Perhaps it should be, don’t you think, Sam? There is a big difference between being a leader who inspires people to give their all and being a boss who simply imposes his will on others.”

“The report mentioned that while he was in charge on Avnil Jonas demonstrated psychopathic tendencies, but notes that there was no prior incident of that in his record.” 

“I’d imagine not. After all, his team was purposely chosen for the study of the effects of long-term off-world missions. What about the doubts you had about his character?”

Sam stirred her soup for a long moment. “He had a tendency to keep everything under a tight control. At first, I thought he was being a perfectionist. I sympathized with that. But after a while he became very critical of my choices and began putting me down whenever I achieved anything. I was on a very fast track, finishing my dissertation while working at the Pentagon and doing rather well.”

“Did your accomplishments make him feel inadequate?”

“There were some underlying insecurities. I warned him that if he didn’t address those issues he could harm his career or even his ability to form a family. He was furious that I had dared pass judgment on him.”

“Was he ever violent?”

“He was smart enough not to try. I can defend myself and I’m a fellow officer. But he did something equally despicable. General West was Jonas’ mentor and involved him in the Stargate project when it first began at the Pentagon. I found out from Catherine Langford that Jonas had discouraged West from bringing me along when the Stargate Program moved here. The Pentagon was always a boy’s club, but that kind of interference was totally out of line. Jonas said he wanted to keep me safe, but I didn’t believe him. I broke up with him.”

“With friends like that…”

“…who needs enemies? I’d been so busy that I went along with his nonsense just because I didn’t wanna deal with it. But after I realized how he was sabotaging my career I cut him out of my life completely.”

“Why didn’t you say anything when Hanson was brought into the program?”

“He was only here for a couple of weeks before deployment. We crossed each other in the cafeteria once, and he was charming but distant, so I though he had moved on. Besides, what could I say? That he behaved the same way most men do when they deal with somebody like me? They think I’m some kind of dumb blonde and when I don’t fulfill their expectations they get mad. I’m so doomed, Daniel. I’ll never find a guy who’s not intimidated by me.”

“I kinda know what you mean. On Abydos, people tried to treat me like a god, but Sha’re saved me from the embarrassment. She grounded me into her family life, so rather than keeping me separate for having a different skill set, she made me one of them.”

Daniel’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. He stood up and walked away to get more coffee.

“I’m sorry Daniel. You must miss her so much.”

“It’s okay Sam. I’ve resigned myself to be very patient in my search for Sha’re. I’m sure you’ll find somebody who’s good for you too.” There was an awkward pause. Daniel finally sat down and asked, “You weren’t surprised by what happened to Hanson?”

“No, and yet I can’t understand how it could happen. He had a good team with a well-trained anthropologist, and the people of Avnil welcomed him.”

“I have a theory; well, in fact, a couple of them.” Daniel looked at Sam and her full attention encouraged him to continue. “Some years ago, there was a rather controversial psychological experiment at Stanford University. A group of students were divided into two groups: prison guards, and prisoners. It took only a few days for the guards to abuse their power and psychologically torture the prisoners. It was a classic example of how power corrupts.”

“But Jonas made the cave-dwellers love him.”

“He was a charismatic man who sold the cave-dwellers on his vision of a better future for Avnil. He placed himself in the position of maximum authority, and after he rescued the child he systematically eliminated all opposition in a way that terrorized the population. Through forced labor he weakened the local community, and then justified his delusions of grandeur with the self-serving notion that as ‘god’ he knew what was best for everyone.”

“So are you saying that he showed classic dictatorial behavior, but that it happened because he was put into that situation? Daniel, wouldn’t that excuse him from all responsibility?”

“Not really, Sam. Hanson saw the opportunity and took it. After all, our prisons don’t torture all prisoners to death. There is specific training to prevent abuses, which admittedly happen sometimes. If anything, Hanson was a highly trained operative. All I’m saying is that there was something in his mental make-up that needed to compensate for the loss of control we all experience when we gate to another planet. As his power grew, he lost touch with reality, abandoning his long terms goals as a military officer and embracing a new messianic identity that gave him the control he craved.”

“What you say makes sense, but there’s something weird about all this.”

“How so?”

“Well, we know that there are mines on Avnil, but the selection of the team members is a bit off. Wouldn’t you expect to see a geologist or a scientist as well, especially for a long-term mission?”

“Oh. Yeah. I’ve been thinking about that. May I look at the report?” Sam passed Daniel the stapled sheets. “Look, there’s a note here that the mission plan was proposed by Colonel MacKenzie,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“As in Dr. MacKenzie?” Immediately, Sam got up and checked the personnel files in her computer. “Look! MacKenzie graduated from Stanford in the early 1980s with an MD specialized in Psychiatry. He began studying there in 1971, as a psychology major in the ROTC Marine Corp program.”

“That was the year the prison experiment took place. In fact, it was the Navy and the Marine Corp who paid for it. You know, Sam? If he was part of it in some way, probably just a student observer given his age, that would explain a few things.”

“It might, but General Hammond gave us this report now because the mission files are being sealed. We are under strict orders from the Pentagon to conclude all inquiries.”

“Sam, do you think this was some kind of experiment gone wrong?”

“I’m not sure. We know they were trying to assess potential problems with long-term off-world missions. But if these men were purposely placed in a situation knowing they might react in a certain way, I wouldn’t be able to check without disobeying direct orders.” 

“One thing is sure, Sam. Dr. MacKenzie, and I’m guessing General West too, seem to have agendas that are different from ours.” 

“Unfortunately, you may be right. I’ll inform General Hammond, but I doubt he’ll be able to do anything.” With a sigh, Sam put the report back in the classified folder. 

The soup bowls were empty and the coffee was all gone. Daniel shrugged, said goodbye to his teammate, and returned to his office. 

Some days answers were hard to find.

 

The End


End file.
